How to Outsmart Your Peers on Employee Referral

Employee Referral Programs is a top method of attracting and recruiting talent for a number of recruiters now. It is easy to see the benefits attached to the employee referral program. Here are some of the methods that you can use to outsmart your peers on employing an ERP system in your organization.

Maintain Transparency and Clear Communication

The single most determining factor in you employee referral programs is to maintain transparency and communicate what you are looking in a candidate. Make sure you have clearly communicated every single detail about the job, the position and candidacy in your job application. You have to specifically mention what is it you are looking in the candidate or else your current employees will not be in a situation to make the right choice in terms of referring a candidate.

Offer Fair Compensation for Successful Referrals

Successful employee referral can only be possible if the employees in the firm are interested and participate in an active manner. These employees have to be fairly compensated to keep the motivations level high in order for them to refer ideal candidates to the job. Clarity and fairness while rewarding an employee for referral will increase employee engagement in the ERP process. It is always advisable to show them the larger picture by advising them on how these employees can grow in your organization should they get selected. You can also give them examples of current employees in the firm who have been referred earlier and has seen their career shot off the roof.

Do not complicate the Referral Process

Complicating referral programs can put off the employees and they will be less than eager to participate in it. You need to remember that each employee has their own set of responsibilities that they need to fulfil in their time of work. When employee referral programs are too complicated, coupled with added stress of daily work load employees can easily get turned off and the participation rate will fall down. Making a referral program that is easy and simple to understand and is accessible to any employee, no matter how busy they are with their day-to-day tasks is the key to success.

Form a Feedback System on Referral Candidates

This is a method by which you can do two things at one go. First, you are letting your employees know that their referrals and suggestions are valuable to the firm and is always heard off. Second, you are also establishing a benchmark for future referrals that your employees will be giving you. These feedbacks are important as the current employees will understand the role of referral in a better way and will understand the relevance factor.

Give Extra Priorities to Referrals

While you do not have to hire every referred candidate but it would always be a good idea to be quick and upfront while entertaining referred candidacies. Even if the employee is not hired in the end, it is a good idea to provide them with a just and fair screening experience. You will surely not want to hamper the relationship between your current employee and rejected referral.

Motivate Existing Employees to Refer

Current employees are bound to feel motivated when you share with them the performance of their referred candidates and give them a token of thanks or appreciation for that.  It is a good way to let your employees know that their referrals mean a lot to the company and goes beyond just monetary compensation that they have provided to the employees. This will create a feel-good factor and give them a renewed sense of belief which will eventually mean that they will keep referring suitable candidates to the company.

Expand program eligibility to include managers and non-employees

One of the best method of improving employee referral process is by including everyone associated with the company in some form or the other and bring them under the same umbrella and adequately compensate them for referred candidates. It is unthinkable to exclude senior management or top-level executives from the ERP process. If there is any doubt that their involvement can create a potential conflict then you can alternately ask them to donate their monetary compensation to a good cause promoted by the company.

Also keep in mind that non-employees who know your firm from inside out will be in a better situation to refer ideal candidates. Hence, it is a great idea to include your temps, contracted employees, ex-employees, retired employees, vendors, friends, references, strategic partners and even your customers.

Encourage friendly internal competitions

Some companies tend to give more recognition to people who are the first to refer candidates when an opening comes. It is a nice little way of appreciating their speed of participation and letting others know how they could have bagged the same recognition as well. Also, periodically hold contests between rival different departments, teams and sub departments, or even asking them or in a way challenging them on who can get the most referral hires from their direct competitors which can also significantly dent your competitors of quality employees.